"Droll, savvy and soulful": five new funny writers who"ll make you laugh

I’m always surprised when people suggest the golden age for comic writing was the era of Amis (father or son), or Wodehouse, or even Swift. The genre has never been as healthy or as vibrant as it is now, largely because more young women, such as Sloane Crosley, Negin Farsad and Phoebe Robinson, are writing comedy than ever before, and they’re from a larger variety of backgrounds. The celebrity memoir has been rejuvenated by writers such as Tina Fey, Mindy Kaling and Sarah Silverman, rescuing the genre from PR-approved garbage and turning it into comedic essays.

Meanwhile, the comic novel has had a boom in the last 20 years, even if the sneerers disparage it with terms like “chick lit” and “lad lit”. And the papers have never been so full of such smart and funny writing, thanks to young writers, including the Washington Post’s hilarious Alexandra Petrie and the New Yorker’s droll and smart Naomi Fry. Comic writing is no longer the preserve of old white men writing chortlesome chapters before having lunch at their club; it is everywhere.

David Sedaris

Unquestionably the king of comic writing, and his new collection of essays, Calypso, is both funnier and more heartbreaking than pretty much anything out there.

Patricia Lockwood

An exciting new voice. Her memoir, Priestdaddy, which came out last year, will stay in your brain for ever.

Simon Rich

A comic writer from the old school. Rich might still look like a teenager, but sometimes seems as if he’s from the 1940s. A smarty-pants, and funny with it.

Sally Rooney

One of the big hits last year was Rooney’s debut novel, Conversations with Friends. Droll and dry, savvy and soulful – and there’s a new one on the way.

Caitlin Moran

Moran has long been a power house when it comes to comic writing and her novels are as confident as her journalism. Her books will make you snort your tea.

For every movie that enjoys critical and commercial success, there’s a total stinker that flops at the box office and gets savaged by critics.There have been thousands of terrible movies released down the years — some of which can be quite enjoyable in the right setting.While some movies fall into the ‘so-bad-they’re-good’ category and end up as cult favourites, some are simply downright unwatchable. From vanity projects to sordid horror movies, these are the worst films ever made.Battlefield Earth: A Saga of the Year 3000

Battlefield Earth: A Saga of the Year 3000 is John Travolta‘s infamously terrible passion project, released back in 2000. Based on the novel from Scientology founder L Hubbard, the movie follows the journey of a human slave fighting back against the alien overlords who have enslaved earth. The movie features laughable dialog…

Angry Creamsicle, Comrade Cheetolino, Mango Mussolini, Agent Orange – these are just a few of the nicknames that Donald Trump has picked up along his presidential road. Trump may ethnically identify as “white”, but his skin is categorically and scathingly portrayed as orange.When Trump was elected in 2016, succeeding former president Barack Obama, I remember references such as “orange is the new black”. At once an allusion to the popular Netflix series and a bold comment on race, colour here functions as an important form of satire. And this satiric use of colour has persisted throughout Trump’s presidency. His recent UK visit witnessed the orange baby balloon and orange-faced protesters continuing this in full force.A woman demonstrates during Trump’s trip to Scotland.Lesley Martin/PA Wire/PA ImagesMy specialism is the history of tanning, so I find this particular form of humour fascinating. It’s striking that Trump’s skin tone, above all else, has prompted such a level of derision. …